Gas-engine



(No Modell) I G. VAN ZANDT.

a GAS ENGINE.v

510.537,253. Im. 13515511555515551895. IHI

ifa l? UNITED STATES GEORGE VAN ZANDT,

PATENT OEETCE;s

OE CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

GAS-ENGINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 537,253, dated April 9, 1895,.

reputation nua remm- 27, 1394. sei-a1 no. 501,64?. on moan To all whom t may concern.-

Beit known that I, GEORGE VAN ZANDT, a vcitizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new yand useful Improvement in Gas-Engines, of which the following is a'specication.

Prominent objects of my invention are to provide a powerful, economical, and exceedingly compact construction of gas engine.

In a gasengine characterized by my invention, the piston is connected with the shaft by a crank and pitman connection inclosed within an extension of the cylinder.

The piston oylinderis provided with lateral exhaust and supply ports, and the piston operates 'as a valve for opening and closing the same. The piston also serves to operate a supplemental valve which is fitted to slide within the piston cylinder and which is brought into position to close the exhaust port during the l interval between the exhaust through said port and the subsequent closure of the same by the piston on its back or return stroke Said valve has a limited movable connection with the piston, and lags during the down or forward stroke of the piston so that at a proper moment the exhaust will be open for the escape of p oducts incident to the explosion. The supply port is opened and closed by the piston, and an explosion takes place at each down or forward stroke of the latter. The supply port communicates lwith a mixing chamber or passage, and the air supply is due to 'the action of an air pump afforded by the piston and its cylinder. The charge is fired by a spark from an electrical make and break device which is arranged within the cylinder and subject to the action of the piston, the arrangement being such that the ring spark occurs just after the pitman has passed the dead center.

Various details pconstituting matters of further improvement are hereinafter fully explained in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is avertical sectionlon a plane taken centrally through a gas engine embodying the principles of my invention. Fig. 2 is a section on line -x,-the valve E being included in the section.

The reciprocating piston A connects with and operates the driving-shaft B through the medium of a crank and pitmau connection. The piston is suitably chambered to receive one end portion of the pitman l, and the piston cylinder C is in effect prolonged and exthe crank 3. The driving shaft extends transversely through the chamber 2, and carries a cated at the opposite side of the main shell or casing D.

The piston cylinder is provided with an inlet port 5 which is opened and closed by the prism/n,the-relative position of said port-beg such that it will be opened when the pis.- ton is at the lower end of its stroke. At a point somewhat higher than the inlet port, the piston cylinder is also provided with an exhaust port 6 which is momentarily opened during the lower portion ofthe stroke of the piston.

As a means for opening the exhaust, the piston carries a supplemental slide valve E arranged to slide upon a pin or stem 7 upon the upper end of the piston. This valve has a limited extent of up and down movement on its allotted stem, whereby it may temporarily separate from the piston so as to open the exhaust. When the piston makes its up stroke, it will engage andcarry with it the valve E, but upon making its down stroke, it will separate from said valve, since the momentum acquired by the latter during the up stroke of the piston, and also a certain extent of frictional contact existing between the valve and the piston cylinder, will cause on the part of the valve an indisposition to drop with the piston. The valve will therefore lag when the piston performs its down stroke, but it will be drawn down with the piston as soon as it is engaged by a stop or shoulder S on the upper end ofy its allotted stem 7. The position of this stop relatively to the upper end of the piston, permits the lag on the part of the valve to leave a space between the valve and piston, and hence, when the piston reaches the lower portion of its stroke and uncovers til a further descent on the part of the piston shall have brought the valve in position to close the exhaust. The exhaust will then be the exhaust port, said space Will be opposite' the latter and thereby leave it uncovered unpanded to provide a chamber 2 suitable for balance wheel 4, which llatter can be dupli- ICIS) held closed by the valve until the latter is engaged by the ascending piston, at which juncture the pistou will in turn serve to close the exhaustand to maintain the same in such condition until thelower portion of its next down stroke. The piston is therefore of a length suitable to hold the exhaust closed until it passes below the same, as aforesaid, and in like manner, the inlet port 5 is constantly closed by the piston,save at the moment when the piston is below such port.

The explosion takes place within the upper portion of the piston cylinder, and hence to permit the charge of gas from the inlet to pass valve E, when the piston is at the lower end of its stroke, a segmental or similar portion of the valve is removed so as to afford a space or passage between the valve and the side of the piston cylinder through which the inlet is formed. \Vith such arrangement, the valve can be held against rotation upon its stein by guides or pins 9 arranged upon the piston and positioned opposite the flattened side 10 of the otherwise circular valve. In order to render the piston subject to the explosion, the body of the valve is provided with suitable openings ll,which for example may be formed by constructing the valve with .the part cir cular rim 12, adapted to fit wilhin the piston cylinder, and connected by arms 13 with a central hub or sleeve 14 arranged to slide upon the stem 7.

The piston cylinder can be supplied from any suitable mixing chamber, but as a matter of further improvement I provide a compressed air reservoir F which is supplied by the action of the piston and connected with the inlet 5 by a passage in which the supply of air in passing from the reservoir to the piston, takes up a suitable quantity of gaso line or like inflammable volatile matter, so as to provide an. explosive gaseous charge. To such end, the compression chamber or reservoir F connects with inlet 5 by way of a pipe Gcontaininga foraminous diaphragm 15 upon which the gasoline or the like will drip from a supply vessel 1G. The pipe G connects with an air space or chamber 17 arranged around the piston cylinder and com municating with the interior of the latter through a port 18. The chamber 17 is provided with an inlet port 19 having a supply valve 20, which opens with external atmospheric pressure, and said chamber also connects with pipe G by a laterally arranged pipe 2l containing a valve 22 which opens against pressure within pipe G and reservoir F. With such arrangement a supply of air will be taken in below the piston at each up stroke thereof, since at such juncture the valve 2O will open while the valve 22 will be closed. On the other hand, at each down stroke, valve 20 will close and valve 22 will open thereby placing the compressed air reservoir F in open communication with the piston cylinder below the piston so as to secure a supply of compressed air within said reservoir.

Then the piston has descended or advanced to an extent to uncover the inlet or supply port 5, the air under compression in the reservoir F and pipe G will pass through the partition 15 and take up a suitable quantity of the gasoline or other inflammable fluid which has been allowed to drip thereon. The portion of pipe G containing said partition is therefore in effect a mixing chamber communicating both wlth the supply port 5 and with a supply of compressed air. The pipe G is also provided with a suitable gage or relief valve whereby "pressure within rescrvoir F and said pipe can be automatically regulated. p

AS a means for firing the charge, I provide an electrical make-and-break device at the upper end of the cylinder, and so arrange the same that circuit shall be closed when the piston reaches the end of its up stroke, and broken so as to cause a firing spark when the piston begins its down stroke. For example, the device shown comprises a spring lever 21 and a contact 25 arranged in a battery circuit 26, the lever being normally free from the contact so as to leave the circuit open and thereby save the battery. When the piston reaches the end of its up stroke, it closes lever 24 upon contact 25 and hence closes the circuit. When the piston descends the lever 24 springs away from the contact, thereby breaking the circuit and causing a spark which fires the charge. 'lhis spark occurs just after the momentum of the balance wheel has carried the pitmau past the dead center, and hence the explosion has an exceedingly eective action upon the piston.

Any suitable pump can be provided forsnpplying the tank 16, and the cylinder can be surrounded by a suitable water chamber as at 27.

From the foregoing it will be seen that the engine explodes and exhausts at cach revolntion of the shaft, thereby securing great power; also that the engine can be economically and compactly built.

The piston cylinder could be arranged horizontally, and it is herein understood that my invention includes such arrangement, although I prefer arranging it in an upright position asshown. Consideringhowever-both arrangements, the term down stroke of the piston, will obviously be synonomous with the term aforward strokeon the part of the same, and likewise, its up stroke will cover a backstroke thereof.

Vhat I claim as my invention is- 1. In a gas-engine, the pistou-cylinder provided with a lateral exhaust port, the piston operating as a valve for alternately uncovering and covering the lateral exhaust port so as to open and close the same respectively during its forward and return strokes, and a IlO supplemental valve which is fitted to slide v within the piston-cylinder and shifted by the piston into position for closing the lateral exhaust port during the interval between the exhaust and the subsequent closure of the exhaust port by the piston, substantially as set forth.

2 In a gas-engine, the piston-cylinder provided with lateral exhaust and supply ports,

haust port during the ,interval between the opening of both the'exhaust and supply ports by the piston on its forward stroke and the closure of both of said ports by the piston on its return stroke, substantially as setr forth.

3. In a gas-engine, the piston cylinder provided with a lateral exhaust port, the piston operating as a valve for uncovering and covering the lateral exhaust port, and a supplemental valve fitted to slide Within the piston cylinder and arranged back of the piston, said supplemental valve being attached to the pistonby a movable connection permitting it to lag and separate from the piston during the forward stroke of the latter, and being arranged for closing the lateral exhaust port during the interval between the exhaust and the subsequent closure of the exhaust port by the piston on its back stroke, substantially as set forth.

4. In a gas-engine, the piston cylinder provided With alateral exhaust port, the piston operating as a valve for alternately uncovering and covering the lateral exhaust port and provided with a stem upon its rear end, and a supplemental valve arranged to slideupon said stem and tted to the inner Wall of the piston cylinder, said valve being shifted by the piston into position for covering and closing the lateral exhaust port during the interval between the vexhaust and the subsequent closure of the exhaust port by the piston on its return stroke, substantially as set forth.

5. In a gas-engine, the piston-cylinder provided With a lateral exhaust port, the piston operating to alternately cover and uncover the lateral exhaust port, and a supplemental segmental shaped valve E provided with openings 11 and tted to slide Within the pistoncylinder, said valve being attached to the rear end of the piston by a sliding connection and being held against rotation, substantially as set forth.

6. In agas-engine the piston cylinder having an extension 2 forming an inner compression chamber and inclosing the crank and pitvman-connection between the crank and the piston,an outer air-chamber 17 communicating with the inner chamber 2 and having a valved inlet, and a compressed air-reservoir connected with the chamber 17 by a valved passage, said passage being also arranged to communicate with asupply port for the piston cylinder, substantially as set forth.

7. In a gas-engine, the piston-cylinder provided with a compression chamber 2 which incloses the crank and pitman, an outer airchamber communicating with the chamber 2 and having a valved inlet, a valved passage leadingtfrom the outer chamber to the supply port for the piston and containing a foraminous partition, and a reservoir for supplying inflammable liuid to the foraminous partition, substantially as set forth.

8. In agas-engine, the piston cylinder provided With lateral supply and exhaust ports, the piston operating as a valve for opening and closing said ports, a compression chamber 2 formed by an extension of the piston cylinder and inclosing a crank and pitman operated by the piston, an outer chamber I7 surrounding the piston cylinder and .communieating with the chamber 2, said chamber 17 being provided with a valved inlet, and a valved passage connecting chamber 17 with -the supply port for the piston-cylinder, substantially as set forth.

GEORGE VAN ZANDT.

Witnesses:

CHARLES G. PAGE, RETA M. WAGNER. 

